Wesleyan-Based Nonprofit Working To Improve Sanitation In Bangladesh

MIDDLETOWN — — A non-profit group started by Wesleyan University students in 2010 aimed improving sanitation in Bangladesh is changing its goals, and will start focusing on maintaining existing facilities rather than trying to build new ones.

Brighter Dawns members have visited Bangladesh twice, and have helped install 10 wells and nine latrines and have distributed sanitary kits in Khalishpur, a section of one of the country's largest cities.

The group has also held public seminars to distribute information on sanitation practices to the residents there.

The two visits have prompted Brighter Dawns to shift its mission from building new infrastructure to repairing existing sanitary facilities.

"So many times we have seen wells or sanitary facilities that are built and just left," said Tasmiha Khan, the founder and president of Brighter Dawns. "There is no follow-up. We want to move toward fixing what's already there rather than building something new."

Khan said many of the residents of Khalishpur live in small, single-family homes. The people there are extremely poor, and have no access to basic facilities. Wells and latrines are often in alleys between homes or near schools, and electricity is intermittent.

Although the core members of Brighter Dawns graduated a year ago and scattered throughout the eastern U.S., the group has thrived. Rajeeta Iyer, the administration director, said raising funds and developing a plan to become a maintenance-oriented group are an immediate focus.

"It doesn't take that much money to change things there, but it takes equally as much money to get us all there [to Bangladesh]," she said.

Group members met recently when Khan returned to Wesleyan for an unrelated event sponsored by the Climate Change Retreat. They got together on a Sunday night to brainstorm about fundraising and other issues – a break from the usual Google chat meetings or video conferences.

"We're pretty efficient now, being apart from each other physically," said Jason Youngbin Lee, the group's development director.

Members discussed plans to work with other nonprofit organizations and offer to rebuild and maintain existing wells and latrines.

"There are spaces that were built and are not being used," Iyer said. "It's a complete waste. It's senseless to try to build new facilitions in such a crowded area already."

Several current Wesleyan students continue to be active in the group and are organizing events, such as a 5-K race planned for April 27.

Brighter Dawns is trying to put together another trip to Bangladesh later this year, and hopes to meet with other groups working in Bangladesh and hold more seminars to spread the message of the importance of sanitation.

"It's an opportunity for us to take this new program and make more connections with the community there," said Kimberly Muellers, the group's communications and finance officer.